The Portland Stamp Company The Portland Stamp Company

Stamp No. 039Lydia Makepeace

Lydia Makepeace is a New Orleans urban sketcher and artist activist. With paint as her primary medium, she documents everyday life and explores complexity. It is her hope to inspire and enlighten others with what she discovers along the way.

 

Have you designed a stamp before?

No, but as a very nerdy kid I collected them and took part in a USPS pen pal club where I used many a stamp to correspond with snail mail friends.

 

What was the most interesting or fun aspect of designing a poster stamp? What unique challenges did it present?

I’ve always wanted to see my artwork on a stamp and this made my still nerdy self feel SO cool. The challenge was to create something that worked on multiple levels. The individual stamps are ACEO sized at 2.5 x 3.5” and can be used as artist trading cards, or the stamp sheet can be displayed as an 11 x 17” poster.

 

Tell us about the art. Did you create something new for this stamp?

I used existing artwork from my ongoing Affirm Black Women portrait series. It highlights the work and words of Black women whose achievements and contributions are often overlooked and erased from history. Curating a collection of portraits for the poster stamps and seeing these phenomenal women side by side is rewarding.

 

Anything else?

Proceeds from the sale of these stamps benefit Women With a Vision, a non-profit created by Black women in New Orleans to improve the lives of marginalized women, their families, and communities by addressing the social conditions that hinder their health and well-being.

You can view the Affirm Black Women portrait series in its entirety at LydiaMakepeace.com

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The Artist Series

An ongoing collaboration with invited designers, artists, and writers who create original work for an unusual form: the poster stamp. The stamps are printed on lickable, gummed paper and pinhole perforated by hand on our vintage machines. The sheets are signed and numbered by the artist, and released in editions of 100. Suitable for framing. View full series.

The Artist Series is an ongoing collaboration between The Portland Stamp Company and invited designers, artists, and writers who create original poster stamp designs. 

Upcoming releases include Ka’ila Farrell Smith, Bwana Spoons, and Kyle Goen.